Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $289.98 and last traded at $285.02, with a volume of 2475193 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $283.45.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on EXPE. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $232.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. CICC Research upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $271.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup upped their price target on Expedia Group from $206.00 to $281.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Expedia Group from $280.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and twenty-four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $265.78.

Expedia Group Trading Up 0.6%

The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $242.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.20. The company has a market cap of $34.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.44.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The online travel company reported $7.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.10 by $0.47. Expedia Group had a return on equity of 64.15% and a net margin of 9.66%.The firm had revenue of $4.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 19th. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is presently 15.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 849 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.08, for a total transaction of $210,619.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,662 shares in the company, valued at $2,893,108.96. The trade was a 6.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig A. Jacobson sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.55, for a total value of $814,650.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 30,858 shares in the company, valued at $8,379,489.90. This represents a 8.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 4,849 shares of company stock valued at $1,283,270 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 9.13% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Expedia Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EXPE. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Expedia Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $663,882,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Expedia Group by 24,899.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,808,466 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $386,560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,801,232 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Expedia Group by 102.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,917,669 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $492,152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,386 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in Expedia Group by 497.0% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 871,837 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $147,061,000 after purchasing an additional 725,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Expedia Group by 20.2% in the first quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,375,276 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $399,284,000 after purchasing an additional 398,804 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group, Inc operates as an online travel company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through B2C, B2B, and trivago segments. Its B2C segment includes Brand Expedia, a full-service online travel brand offers various travel products and services; Hotels.com for lodging accommodations; Vrbo, an online marketplace for the alternative accommodations; Orbitz, Travelocity, Wotif Group, ebookers, CheapTickets, Hotwire.com and CarRentals.com.